In response to the need for an
up-to-date flora of the state, the Oregon Flora Project was founded by
the late Scott Sundberg and has been working to provide a comprehensive
vascular plant resource since 1994. With support from sponsors and
individual donations, the project uses images, interactive maps, and
descriptive text to convey information on the flora of the state to a
diverse body of users.

The Oregon Flora Project is a work in
progress which relies on the efforts of staff, students, and volunteers
to accomplish the following four goals:

A Flora of Oregon

The Oregon Plant Atlas

The Oregon Vascular Plant
Checklist

Photo gallery

To access the current resources made
available by this project, or to donate or volunteer to its cause, visit
the Oregon Flora Project
website.

The NPSO has several native plant
research scholarships, awards, and field grants, including the
Leighton Ho Memorial Award, the Jean Davis Memorial Scholarship,
and the Augusta Rockafellar Memorial Scholarship. NPSO grants
are meant to: 1.) stimulate basic field research into the
biology and distribution of Oregon's native and naturalized
flora and vegetation, particularly in the more remote areas of
the state, and 2.) to promote native plant conservation
through better understanding of Oregon's flora and vegetation
and the factors affecting their survival.

For information on the application process
and guidelines, contact Dan Luoma at 541-752-8860.

Several of the more recent recipients of
NPSO research funds, and their associated proposals, include the
following:

Leslie Gecy - Headwater riparian
plant dynamics and importance to regional conservation
strategies.
This project is meant to determine whether initial streambed
plant establishment patterns, first observed 20 years ago, act
as a legacy and thereby influence the current structure and
composition of headwater riparian vegetation. Results will be
used to examine how such floristic data may improve the
conservation value of regional riparian management strategies.

April M. Randle - Pollination and
reproductive biology of three Collinisia species native to SW
Oregon.
Three Collinisia species will be used to assess the reproductive
"costs and benefits" of different species living together in the
face of potential hybridization. The project will look for
evidence of competition or facilitation involving pollinators in
populations of these species that are sympatric relative to
allopatric populations.

Harold S.J. Zald - Predictive
mapping of plant distributions and their underlying
environmental determinants in a forest/tundra ecotone, Jefferson
Park, Oregon.
Correlations between vegetation data and associated
environmental conditions that are primary drivers of plant
community structure will allow development of predictive models
of vegetation changes that may occur in response to other
dynamic processes such as climate change. The predictive
capacity developed by this study will provide an important
"early warning" component to monitoring the forest/tundra
ecotone for sensitive species or communities that may be of
management concern.